Raincheck
by HuddyJoy0524
Summary: My take on Bill and Karen's first date, set after day 5. Chapter 2 details their second date.
1. Chapter 1

_**Raincheck**_

The Following Takes Place Approximately 27 hours after Day 5

Bill awoke to the sound of a ringing telephone. He tried to place the pillow over his ears but that didn't work. He groaned out loud and rolled heavily over to the other side of the bed. "What time is it? Sheesh! Who the hell is calling me…?" He picked up the phone and answered gruffly, "Hello?"

"Bill?" It was the voice of Karen Hayes, the Director of Homeland Security, LA.

"Oh. Karen." Bill cleared his throat, attempting to get rid of the sleep in his voice.

"Oh…I'm sorry. I woke you up. I will just call back again later…"

"No, no wait!! Karen!" Bill sat up in bed. "What is it? Is it something important?"

"Umm….actually they gave me off today and I was wondering if you…uhhh…wanted to have our date? But it's okay, really. I will call back later…"

"It's alright Karen; I've actually been up for two hours already. I was just watching a movie." Bill looked at the clock reading 11:13am, dumbfounded that he had slept so late.

"Are you sure? If it's inconvenient for you…"

"It's not. What were you thinking?" Bill stood up and started rooting through his drawers for a pair of unwrinkled pants, having no luck.

"Well my neighbor brought me over a huge tray of breakfast. She knew I'd been working for the past three days….but I can't eat it all myself."

"You can come over if you'd like." Bill threw open his closet and rubbed his eyes.

"That sounds fine," Karen tried to mask her excitement. "I can be over there in ten minutes."

Bill's eyes shot open. "Uhh….sounds good. See you in a few." He closed his phone. "Dammit." He grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of jeans and ran down the steps. He put on a pot of coffee and threw a pile of clothes from the living room into his bedroom shutting the door behind him. He practically chucked the pile of dirty dishes into the dishwasher and finished putting away the equipment he and Chloe had left all over the place.

The doorbell rang almost exactly ten minutes later. Bill opened the door and Karen stood there with a huge bag of food.

"Come in!" Bill smiled and moved the door aside so that she could step in. Karen examined Bill closely and sighed. "I DID wake you up. Why didn't you just tell me? I could have come back later!" Her face was full of guilt.

Bill chuckled. "I TOLD you it was fine. It's after eleven I shouldn't have been sleeping that late."

"Well, I don't feel comfortable barging in, I'll just…"

Bill gently grabbed Karen's arm as she turned to leave. "I could really use the company anyway."

She looked up at him, blushed slightly, and looked down at her food. Changing the subject, she held it up. "There's a little bit of everything in here!" Her tone was cheerful.

Bill led her into the kitchen and the two began eating in silence for a couple minutes before Bill broke the silence. "So…how were those debriefings?"

Karen snorted. "Horrendously boring for the most part. A lot of minor details that no one needed to know. Half of us were falling asleep."

Bill noticed the dark circles under Karen's eyes and grimaced. "Well…did they say anything about C.T.U.?"

It was Karen's turn to grimace. She swallowed her mouthful of bacon in more of a gulp. "Yes. They wanted to fire you and most of your staff. I wasn't too tired; however, to state how wonderful you and the others were, working your asses off until the last possible minute."

Bill grinned. "Hey, thanks a lot."

Karen smiled back. "It's the least I could do. After all, I did come in and spoil everything."

Bill frowned playfully. "Well…not everything. You did keep us on our toes."

"I was just doing my job!" Karen mocked defensively and took a bite of her omelet. "I can gonna be so bloated after this meal!" She groaned changing the subject again.

"Have you eaten much of anything in the past two days?" Bill asked, very concerned.

Karen laughed. "Now you sound like my mother!"

Bill stood up and sighed. "But is your mother this wonderful a cook?"

"My neighbor is so kind. Always knows when I am stressed out or sick and brings me food and flowers." Karen smiled to herself.

Bill pointed to the living room. "I have a warm couch that you can come sit on if you'd like now that we are finished our meal," he grinned playfully.

Karen sighed. "I guess this is not what you had in mind, huh? Me bringing breakfast to your house? A little informal I know."

Bill shrugged. "I don't think I can handle going out into public right now."

Karen shook her head and said with relief, "Me neither." She sat down awkwardly next to Bill who then sat up. "I have a HUGE collection of movies. We could watch one if you'd like. There is not much else to do in my house."

Karen laughed. "I'll pick one!" She got up and kneeled over the video case. "Just nothing violent." She laughed. Suddenly she grew somber and turned to Bill. "Have they found Jack yet?"

Bill shook his head and put his face in his hands. Karen walked over, kneeled in front of Bill, and put her hand on his arm. "I still feel like so much of this is my fault. If I had just listened to you two none of this would have happened. If there is anything I can do for you..."

Bill put his head up and rested his hand on hers. "Don't guilt yourself. I already told you, you did what you thought was right. And thanks for the offer of help I might need it."

Karen smiled, and looked down for a second before popping her head back up. "I picked out a movie!" She pulled it out and popped it into the DVD player. The two sat down on the couch.

About fifteen minutes later, Bill turned to say something and realized that Karen had fallen asleep. She looked so tired, so he decided not to wake her. A piece of hair from her bun had fallen out into her face. Bill sat up and stared at her sleeping face, feeling his insides melting for her, despite their knowing one another for merely days. He gently placed her hair behind her ear and she stirred slightly turning her face to meet his. Bill smiled and leaned his head back; he too was out within minutes.

Bill awoke suddenly to the sound of sirens a couple of streets away. He went to sit up when he felt something heavy on his body. He looked down to see Karen's head resting on his chest, and his arm was around her. His instinct was to wake Karen up, but he hesitated. Bill frowned, confused, but didn't move. He wanted her to stay there, snuggled close to him, despite the voices screaming in his head that it wasn't right. He turned to look at the clock, which read 4:30pm. His brain won.

"Karen?" He gently shook her shoulders and she stirred. "What? I…." Suddenly she shot up and her face turned beet red. She stood up and turned away. "Oh my goodness Bill I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to…"

Bill laughed and stood up. "It's okay. We've been asleep for about four hours. I guess we should have waited on that raincheck."

Karen's face was still beet red. She attempted to shove the loose piece of hair out of the way unsuccessfully. "I shouldn't have fallen asleep. That was inappropriate of me. I…" She rambled.

"Karen!" Bill grabbed her shoulders. "Are you always this uptight?"

She grinned sheepishly. "Yeah."

"Well, settle down." He took the annoying piece of hair and stuck it behind her ear. His fingers grazed her cheek and she started to relax. "We were both just exhausted that's all. We need rest. Why don't you head home and get some real sleep this time?"

Karen nodded and sighed. She walked to the front of the house and turned to Bill. "It was still really nice connecting with you. I haven't been able to with anyone for a really long time."

"Me neither." Bill helped her into the coat.

"Well…thanks." Karen impulsively threw her arms around him and he hugged her back.

"For what?" Bill asked.

"For everything." She smiled and looked down.

Bill leveled with her. "Actually, Karen, truthfully… I really like you."

"Really?" Her eyes sparkled briefly. And then she blushed slightly again. "I really like you too, Bill."

Bill opened the door for her and she walked outside into the sunshine.

"Karen?" She stopped and turned around. "Yes?"

"Can I ummm…call you again soon?"

She grinned. "Sure."


	2. The Second Date

6

The Second Date

The Following Takes Place one week after "Raincheck"

Bill groaned and put his head down on his desk. He was becoming extremely restless. It had been a full week now since his and Karen's first date. If you can call falling asleep on his couch a date. After their two days off, they had to get back to work and Karen was assigned to continue working out of C.T.U. for another two weeks. President Gardner needed Karen's help with transferring C.T.U. back to its autonomous status before the Homeland absorption. So, she had gotten an office right next to Bill's and he had been working closely with her for the last week. He had grown to like her more and more and was aching to ask her out again but she seemed…uninterested.

There was a knock on his office door and he picked his head up to see Chloe standing there. He waved her in and tried to look productive.

"Mr. Buchanan are you okay?" Chloe looked at him warily.

"I'm fine just tired."

"Okay well I'm just letting you know that we've narrowed down our search for Jack. He has to be somewhere in Asia."

"That's great Chloe." Bill smiled thankfully. He was just as worried about Jack's whereabouts and wished that they could find him.

"Well I'm gonna head home." Chloe awkwardly turned around to leave and stopped. She looked back at her boss. "Why don't you just ask her out?"

"What?!" Bill looked up at Chloe in amazement.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "You like her; it's obvious. She likes you too. Duh. Do the entire floor a favor and get rid of the sexual tension. It's been interfering with our work." She gave him another "Chloe" look and waltzed out of the office.

Bill looked at the door for an entire thirty seconds with his jaw hanging open before he closed it and glanced over at Karen's office. She was typing away at her computer, frowning in concentration. He stood up, took a deep breath, and walked over to her cubicle. He knocked on the door and she beckoned him in.

"Hi" he said awkwardly.

She looked up and smiled. "Hi Bill. What do you need?"

"Ummm…" he scratched his head. "I wasn't busy andwaswonderingifyouwouldliketogooutagaintonight." He took a deep breath and stared at Karen's puzzled face.

"I didn't get any of that."

Bill sighed and looked down at his hands. "Would you like to go out with me tonight?"

He glanced up at her face cautiously.

She smiled. "I'd love to. Not like I have a life to get back to."

Bill grinned. "Great. I've got the perfect place. But dress casually."

She looked confused again but nodded. "Okay. Can you pick me up at 7?"

"Sounds good."

"Bill where are we going?" Karen pleaded. She looked outside the window. They had been driving for 15 minutes and seemed to be getting farther from civilization.

"You'll see" Bill said for the hundredth time. He was enjoying the surprise immensely and was hoping that the night would be as perfect as he had hoped.

Karen was dressed in jean Capri's and a flowered blouse which she was not used to. She felt uncomfortable; almost too casual and was worried that he would think differently of her. But she couldn't help feeling attracted to him; jeans and a blue polo made his muscles prominent and looking at him made her heart beat quickly in her chest.

Karen noticed that they were approaching a beach; the sign stated _No Trespassing. Beach closed 7:00pm-7:00am._

"Umm….Bill?" Karen said in a worried voice as he drove past the sign and swerved onto the sand. He drove for a couple minutes until they reached the beach and he stopped the car and turned off the engine.

Karen glanced at him uneasily. "Is this legal?"

Bill grinned. "Relax. I come down here all the time. The security guard knows me he won't care."

He got out of the highlander and opened the back trunk. Karen followed him around the car where he was setting up a blanket on the beach with a basket. "Dinner on the beach! Do you like it?"

Karen nodded. "It's very romantic" she teased.

Bill smiled. "Duh;" she could tell he was imitating Chloe and she laughed. She sat down on the blanket and he began putting fried chicken and rice on her plate. "Did you cook this?"

"Yup. I like to cook." He continued to dish out their food before setting the blanket aside. "And I like to watch the ocean at night. It's peaceful."

Karen chewed on a drumstick and nodded as she looked at the waves rolling out and hitting the shore calmly. "I used to love going to the beach. I was only one that liked it in my family besides my Dad."

"I grew up on the beach. I used to live in Washington State."

"Really?" Karen was surprised. "I've never left California before."

It was Bill's turn to be surprised. "The Director of Homeland Security has never left California?"

Karen looked sheepish. "I hate airplanes. I get airsick. I don't get carsick, just airsick."

Bill shrugged. "My sister always gets airsick too."

"Do you have a lot of siblings?" Karen enquired.

"Nope. It's just me and my sister, Wendy. We are twins actually."

Karen's eyebrows rose. "That must have been hard on you two."

Bill laughed. "Nah. We have always been really close. We actually look a lot alike, except her hair hasn't turned grey yet." He made a face.

Karen smiled. "I have three brothers; all of them younger and all extremely annoying even in their thirties and forties" she laughed.

"No wonder you are so tough." Bill took another bite of rice and swallowed. "You've always had to hold your own."

Karen nodded. "I don't mind it though. I hate the idea of being dependent. I guess with three brothers you just learn to be independent."

Bill got out a bottle of champagne and held it up. "Would you like a glass?"

"Yes please. I love champagne." Karen smiled again and let Bill pour her a glass. "This is a really well thought out night. How long have you planned this?" She looked at him expectantly.

Bill turned a little red. "Honestly? Since the day after our first date."

Karen nearly snorted out her champagne. "If you can call that a date. It was more of an embarrassing sleepover."

Bill laughed big and loud. "Yeah. We were a little tired."

Karen chuckled. "You're not upset about that whole thing are you? I still feel bad."

Bill thought back to Karen's head on his chest and he shook his head no; solemnly.

Karen, now uncomfortable, took another sip of champagne and changed the subject. "Sooooo…how long have you been working for C.T.U. now?"

"About ten years. Three years ago I was given the position of Director of C.T.U. L.A. and had been working out of the Seattle branch beforehand."

Karen frowned and looked up at Bill. "I'm getting déjà vu all of a sudden…"

Bill cocked his head and looked at her funny. "What?""

"Oh my gosh Bill, three years ago. L.A. Division." It suddenly flooded back to her. "The committee. I was on it; I defended you for blue coding Abu Fayed you came up to thank me and…"

Bill's eyes got wide. "I remember that now! I knew I had met you somewhere before! Wow I had completely forgotten…that was…awkward."

Karen nervously chuckled; the flustered and confused feelings were flooding back to her now. "No hard feelings right?"

Bill shook his head. "No. I understand. I was being a jerk and you were going through a painful divorce. Let's leave it at that."

"No, Bill. You were not being a jerk I was being a bitch. That is why I got divorced to begin with."

"I doubt that. You have a soft side to you." Bill seemed to be studying Karen who looked down quickly. "Well Ron never seemed to see this 'soft side.' He hated that I was working and moving up the ladder in my career; he thought that I should stop my ambitions."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Bill said kindly.

Karen shrugged. "It's over now and I'm happy to have my own life again. He was weighing me down, you know? I never would have left the F.B.I. and moved to Homeland if he was in my way."

"My wife used to work for the F.B.I." Bill stated casually.

Karen's heart seemed to stop. "Your wife?"

Bill bit his lip and looked down. "I mean…not anymore. She passed away."

Karen's breath returned and she felt ashamed. "I'm sorry to hear that." She scooted closer to him. "What was her name?"

"Mary." Bill seemed to smile and he looked out towards the ocean. "She had blonde hair and eyes the color of the sea. She was sweet, kind, compassionate, and always put others before herself." Bill turned back to Karen. "You remind me a lot of her."

Karen's heart filled with compassion for Bill and she wanted to hold him so badly, but restrained herself. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before responding, "I can't imagine what it must be like to lose someone that close to you."

"It was hard, but I still have Ronnie." Bill said and his tone brightened.

"Who?"

"My daughter, Veronica," Bill clarified.

Karen couldn't help but smile. "You have a daughter Bill? She must be gorgeous."

Bill glanced at Karen but she seemed to be absolutely telling the truth; Karen was in no way a brown noser.

"Our relationship has been hurting since her mother's death, but we still speak. She means the world to me." He turned to Karen. "Do you have any kids?"

Karen shook her head and looked down. "Michael and I tried for many years but…I…wasn't able to."

"I'm sorry." Bill felt bad for bringing it up.

Karen shrugged. "It's fine. I accepted it years ago." She looked back up at Bill and although her body language was calm, her eyes had a sadness in them that would haunt Bill for the rest of his life.

Bill suddenly stood up. "This has gotten depressing. You want to take a walk?"

Karen nodded gratefully and took off her sandals so that she could feel the sand on her feet. She ran up to the edge of the ocean and let the water lap at her feet. She giggled and jumped out of the way as a larger wave came out of nowhere. Bill watched her; her smiling face and golden hair gleaming in the moonlight made her look like an angel.

The two talked for another hour and strolled up and down the beach holding hands. "Really? You used to sing? I'm tone deaf." Karen said.

"I doubt it" Bill laughed. "I actually found that most people can sing and dance, it just takes proper training and practice."

"I took dancing lessons when I was little and I have two left feet." Karen responded. "I didn't dance at my wedding; I'm just bad at it."

"Oh come on!" Bill teased. "I can teach you how right here right now." He walked over to the car and turned on the radio. _The Way you Look Tonight _was playing on the radio. He walked back over and reached out his hand. "I can teach you."

Karen looked at his hand stubbornly and shook her head. "No thanks."

"Come on Karen its fun." He looked right into her eyes and she had to give in. He took her hand and placed his hand on her waist and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Now. One two three. One two three." He guided her feet with his in a little box.

Karen, tense, was so worried about stepping on his feet that she looked down the whole time.

"Now; I'm going to dip you." Bill put his hand on her back and she leaned backwards. He brought her right back up and the sudden force made the clip holding her hair up fall out.

"Damn." She leaned over to pick it up but Bill held her arm. "Wait."

She stood up and looked at him. "What?" He was looking at her differently and Karen suddenly got worried. "What? Is something wrong?"

Bill was staring at the difference in her face with her hair down. It was striking. Her facial features smoothed out completely and it made her eyes glow. Before Bill knew it, he had kissed her.

Karen, startled, stood there for a second but then kissed him back. It lasted for only ten seconds but seemed to last for an eternity. When he pulled away she felt her face turn beet red and she looked down. "Can you keep teaching me how to dance?"

Bill pulled up in front of Karen's house and let her out of the car. It was midnight and they had spent the last two hours dancing to the car radio.

Karen smiled on the doorstep of her apartment. "I had a great time, Bill. That was the best date I have ever been on."

Bill smiled. "Me too I think."

Karen looked up into his blue eyes and had to look away to keep her heart from beating too fast. "Would you like to go out with me to dinner tomorrow? I always go out every Thursday night."

"Yes." Bill nodded. "I would love to."

"Great." Bill stood there awkwardly for another minute. "Well…we have work tomorrow I better go."

"Yeah…me too. See you." She went inside the door and turned to watch him get in the car and drive away. Karen bit her lip and sighed. She was falling hard and fast for Bill Buchanan.


End file.
